Feb. 24, 2004

Box Score

AUBURN, Ala. - The Samford baseball team was defeated, 11-5, by the 10th-ranked Auburn Tigers Tuesday afternoon at Plainsman Park.

Auburn (6-1) jumped on top early when Clete Thomas doubled to drive in Tug Hulett in the bottom of the first inning to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead. Auburn added two more runs in the inning when Sean Gamble singled to bring in Thomas and Josh Bell for a 3-0 Auburn lead.

Auburn plated another run in the bottom of the second inning when Josh Sullivan doubled to drive in Derek Sain to increase the Auburn lead to 4-0 lead.

Samford (0-4) got on the board in the top of the third when Matt Alling hit a sacrifice fly to center field to bring in Trey Moody to cut the Auburn lead to 4-1.

In the bottom of the third, Auburn scored three more runs to push its lead to 7-1. Chuck Jeroloman tripled to bring in Bell and Thomas for the first two runs of the inning. Sain then grounded out to first base to drive in Jeroloman for the 7-1 lead.

Samford cut the Auburn lead to 7-2 with a run in the top of the fifth. Alling singled up the middle to score Joe Denson for the run.

Auburn pushed its lead out to 10-2 with three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Sain singled to bring in Sean Gamble. Sullivan later singled to drive in Jeroloman, and then Ben Sprague singled to bring in Sain.

Samford plated three more runs in the top of the sixth to cut the lead to 10-5. Denson doubled to bring in Sam Stewart for the first run. Trey Moody singled to drive in Garrett Rice and Denson for the last two runs of the inning.

Auburn added one more run in the bottom of the seventh when Ben Maitland hit a sacrifice fly to score Sullivan to give Auburn the 11-5 lead.

Samford was led at the plate by Alling, going 2-for-3 with two RBI. Moody was 2-for-4 with two RBI, and Garrett Rice was 2-for-4. Stephen Artz started the game on the mound for Samford. He pitched 3.0 innings, giving up seven runs on nine hits to take the loss.

Auburn was led by Thomas and Gamble, both going 3-for-5. Colby Paxton pitched 3.0 innings, giving up just one run on five hits to pick up the win for the Tigers.

Samford will return to action on Wednesday, Feb. 25, when the Bulldogs play at Alabama A&M. The first pitch is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.